Biopsychosocial correlates of resting and stress-reactive salivary GDF15: preliminary findings.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Non-randomized observational laboratory stress-challenge cohort study
PubMed 40782989 · doi:10.1016/j.bbi.2025.106068
What was done
In a sample of 198 healthy working adults (70% female), researchers measured salivary growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) at baseline and in response to an acute socio-evaluative psychosocial stress paradigm. They assessed associations between baseline and stress-reactive GDF15 and various biopsychosocial factors, including sex and gender traits, mental health and burnout, physical health indicators, and blood-based metabolic biomarkers.
What was found
Salivary GDF15 increased significantly after acute psychosocial stress, peaking 10 minutes post-stress (+28.3%, g = 0.50, p < 0.0001). Baseline salivary GDF15 was higher in men than in women, positively correlated with testosterone, and negatively correlated with estrogen and traditionally feminine gender roles. Work-related cynicism, burnout, and emotional exhaustion predicted greater GDF15 reactivity, whereas job autonomy and competence utilization predicted smaller reactivity. Baseline GDF15 positively correlated with waist-to-hip ratio, creatinine, and albumin. Participants with greater GDF15 reactivity also showed greater cortisol reactivity.
Why it matters
This study shows that salivary GDF15 serves as a non-invasive marker of acute psychosocial stress reactivity and links energetic stress physiology to occupational burnout.
Limits
The study is exploratory and cross-sectional for its correlational analyses, limiting causal inference. The sample was composed primarily of healthy working adults and was disproportionately female (70%), and specific numerical correlation coefficients for the secondary psychosocial and metabolic associations were not reported in the abstract.